Roanne Lau
Rebellion - Solaris
27 March 2025
368
eBook - EPUB
Fantasy
ARC via NetGalley
Lythlet and her only friend Desil are shackled to a life of debt and poverty that she fears they will never escape. Desperate for money, they sign up as arena combatants who fight sun-cursed beasts in the seedy underworld of the city.
Match-master Dothilos is initially enamored of Desil’s brawling reputation, but after seeing Lythlet lead the pair to triumph with her quick cunning, he takes her under his wing, scorning Desil. Ambition takes root in Lythlet’s heart as a life of fame and wealth unfolds in her imagination.
But Lythlet isn’t the only one out for coin and glory, and she soon finds herself playing an entirely different game—a game of politics and deception. As the cost of her ambition grows, she will have to decide if sacrificing her honor, and only friendship, is worth the chance to shape her own fortune.
The Serpent Called Mercy started well. Although the idea clearly has similarities with other works, it still had a freshness in its approach that didn't make it feel too familiar despite that. Lythlet and Desil interested me as characters and I was keen to see where the story would take them. Where I think this book fell down a little for me was from the mid-point onwards when several new subplots were suddenly introduced. While none were boring per se, they came a bit out of nowhere and then the narrative was forced to split between them all, so none got developed as well as they could have been. This might have worked in a book with a longer page count or with a duology, but there just wasn't enough time for it all in this single volume. When the story ended, I wasn't unsatisfied with the resolution, but I wished we could have found out more about a number of things, from the sun-cursed beasts to the general world in which the story was set, to the politics at play in the background. This was not a bad story by any means, but it is one that, in my opinion at least, had the potential to be better with further development. Still, if you are a fan of fantasy tales involving mythic creatures and death challenges, it's worth checking out and I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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